golf shot

Tiger Woods has endured his troubles with water this year, but in becoming the first golfer to hit a ball from Europe to Asia on Tuesday, the Bosporus proved no problem for the world No 1.

He did have the 1,500 metre gravity-anchored suspension bridge to help his Nike across from the neighbourhood of Ortakoy to the Beylerbeyi shoreline, and the fact that the police agreed to stop the notorious Istanbul traffic for 30 minutes also assisted.

Woods is one of the few who could bring that seething metropolis to a standstill and, with this spectacular stunt, the 14-time major winner repaid the first instalment of the £1.75 million fee he is receiving for playing in the Turkish Airlines Open, with begins in Belek on Thursday.

his is Woods’s second appearance here and the organisers are certain his presence represents good value as they try to raise the profile of golf in the country.

“Tiger brings much more than golf; he is a superstar in many other ways,” he said. “We know he costs money but we believe it is well spent because he does all the ­off-course stuff with the same class.”

Chubby Chandler, the managing director of the ISM agency which is promoting the event, said: “Tiger is the one golfer who everyone has heard of.

“And the great thing about today was that last year, while the world knew Tiger was playing in Turkey, the Turkish weren’t that aware, because golf is not that big here. But they certainly know he’s here this year.”